'Practical', she says. Fern could feel her pulse begin to qui as she finished her drink and stood up, handing it to Sapphire. Hopefully I ... I dunno, impress her? Satisfy her? Something.

  "Now, sidering what you've already been, ahem, taught by my errant maid, and its effects on you-" Ravenna turned once she walked past the ter circle some distand fixed her eyes on Fern as she approached. "I fully expect this round of practice to send you into the darkness and ge yil again. Just so you don't get caught by surprise."

  Well, advance warning was always nibsp; "Let's get to work," she returned, drawing her sword and stepping bato the circle.

  A fsh of teeth sighe dark mage's approval, and she actually stepped back, almost to the edge of the inner barrier. "Eager little thing, aren't you?" she purred. "Good, good. I trust you remember what Crimson told you?"

  Fern thought babsp; "Wield a focus, say the verse." She looked down at the sword in her hand. "She didn't say anything about gatheriher first, though..."

  "Correct again; her omission was iional. Simply speak the words; knowing that keen little mind of yours, you shall learn mudeed."

  She nodded firmly, and took a breath to steady herself, letting it out evenly. Even if she had some idea of what might happen, it was still rgely unknowory. But deying would do nothing; and most of all, she wao be a good student for her partner. "The shadows are my friend," she intoned softly.

  Her sword moved on its own; no, her arm moved on its own, guiding the bde with swift little movements to draw a hexagram in the air in front of her with six quick sshes before she even fihe line. But the words kept spilling out of her, uo be suppressed. "Waking, they care for me." A flick of her wrist made a circur enclosure around the hexagram, all of the lines fring with a silvery gleam. "Sleeping, they guard my soul." A sed circle, just a little outside the first. The shapes in the air grew even brighter; whatever the spell was doing, it grew more powerful with every line she recited. Even though she was only halfway through, she could see the rippling of darkness in the air, even without engaging her inner eye - whatever it was, it was strong.

  Through the curtain of wavering air she saw Ravenna, and the expression on her face: i, thoughtful, intrigued. The dark mage was watg her closely; judging her, perhaps. It was difficult to tell.

  But she couldn't stop. Like an automaton, her arm - no, both arms now moved on their own. "Those who watch, those who hunt." She brought the sword in close, resting the ft of the bde on her left forearm, as with her st word a duplicate hexagram seared its way ien the floor, under her feet - this er, but otherwise identical to the one floating before her. "Ill i founded." Sweeping the sword in a wide, low arc, the floor erupted with a torrent of dark energy all along the outer ring; the water-like curtains it formed swiftly rose over her head, meeting above her to form a shimmering dome that resembled a reverse waterfall, flowing from below to overhead.

  And then Fern paused, ba scious trol of her body once more. But she knew she wasn't dohat there remained one more lio recite. Briefly she looked around, behind her, seeing the dome fully encircled her with its mesmerizing pulses and the way it scattered light. Whatever it did - presumably something defensive, but she didn't want to assume anything at this point - it felt unfinished. No; it felt like it was waiting for her. Like the energy oised and ready to strike, merely waiting for the and - for the st word. She didn't want to find out what would happen if she withheld it.

  "The shadows are my friend."

  With a terrifying rush of sensation, she felt her inner eye activate - no, felt it being forced open, the chilling feeling of Something Else doing the process for her with great haste and to a much greater effebsp; The distortion of the dome practically disappeared, and she could see Ravenna oher side of it, a whirling vortex visible now inside her; ohat never showed before. A powerful ooo, carving deep, bold lines around itself.

  New motions bloomed at the edges of her vision. Fern turned her gaze upward - through the stoo see what must have been Sapphire, indistinctly, asding the steps. It was faint, but there was a vortex of sorts in her as well, or at least some form of circution. She tried to espy Crimson as well, approximating where the coffin had been in the floor above, but nothing was visible. Maybe an effect of those seals? she mused.

  And then she gnced down.

  At first the movemeh was indistinct - slow, gentle waves unduting ceaselessly, without aral point she could detebsp; She tried to trace the flow but after some distance, she wasn't sure how far, it simply faded from sight. It was simply a flow of aether - deep and strong. She tried to focus on it, to push her senses down farther.

  Theouched Something with her mind and recoiled instinctively, as if strubsp; Something far beyond her - so much rger, so much deeper than her. Like an o, if it had a presence, a life all its own - something so great it didn't even notice her, so infinitesimal was she in parison to its sheer unfathomable magnitude.

  "What the fuck," she breathed, almost silently. Badly shaken by the inprehensible tact, her inner eye closed on its own, though the dome somehow remained intact - back to its former scattering of light now that she wasn't seeing through it. "What was that...?"

  A while ago, back before she'd gotten the pejorative title of Luckless - right around that time, in fact - Fern had been on aermination mission, one she thought would be retively simple; but she'd badly uimated the oppo. Fortunately no one else had, and she hadn't been on the forefront of the a - but she remembered the monstrous size of the aether-infused iform, its powerful muscles rippling as it wheeled, whipping its bulk around. And she remembered its eyes, how they sized her up with bestial intellect - and then disregarded her for the rest of the fight. It gave her the freedom to ad support the rest of the ream, certainly, but she'd never fotten how she'd been judged so quickly as... insignifit.

  She remembered the feeling of such a differen weight css. But this thing she'd just touched - whatever it was - dwarfed even that sensation in memory. The gap was se she didn't have anything to pare it to, and it terrified her - even more now that she'd had a ce to sider it.

  The barrier finally fell apart, the sword dropping from her hand as she sank to her knees, arms curling tight around herself to try and fend off the horrible, bone-chilling dread that had suddenly seized her in its grip.

  "Oh my, darling, you're not looking so good." Another pair of arms ed around her, a familiar warmth sinking into her as Ravenna embraced her gently. "An excellent spell, that was; not that I'd expeything less from something Crimson taught you, of course. But you're shaking like a leaf - and there was nothing in your craft that seemed to hold any fws, to my expert eye." The dark mage pced a hand on the back of her head, gently pressing her closer. "Calm yourself," she whispered. "There's o speak of it until you're ready."

  Fern leaned into that warmth and support, closing her eyes aing the other woman be her anchor back to reality, pushing away all the thoughts threatening t her out of this one moment. Breathe in, breathe out. Focus on the sensation of toubsp; Let your heartbeat slow. Do what she told you and calm yourself.

  And after a few minutes, or maybe longer - just sitting there, with her, mindfully - she opened her eyes again. She'd maain her equilibrium, with her partner's help. "Thank you," she murmured softly. "I... wasn't expeg what happened."

  "Do you want to talk about it? Or do you want tain?"

  She kept silent for a moment. I want to stay here with you, the thought came, seemingly out of nowhere. But that one... somehow didn't feel like she could say it. It was too much to ask from someone who'd already given her so much, so freely. "I don't want to disappoint you, mostly," she managed, eventually.

  Ravenna just smiled, sliding her fingers into her partner's wavy brown locks and lightly rubbing her scalp, not unlike Crimson had dohe previous night, but without the sharpness of the maid's nails. "Don't you worry about that, darling," she murmured gently. "If anything you've exceeded my expectations. Not just this time, either."

  It felt like those fingers were slowly scraping away at her resistance - and oh, she didn't want it to stop. She couldn't ask for anything, but she couldn't deny what she was being giveher. Maybe it was for the best, even if she didn't feel worthy of the praise. "... Really?"

  "Really." The dark mage reached down and took her right hand, lifting it up so she could see the brand-new sigil on it, o had never held before. "You remember what I told you about being a fallen hero, don't you? About whose expectations matter?"

  Fern stared at the back of her hand with half-lidded eyes. The sword-like hero sigil, but reversed; a fallen hero. Despite all the time she'd spent w about it, the ge had e and gone before she even realized it. "You said... only your expectations, I think."

  "That's right. Only mine." Raven go of her wrist and pulled her close once more, resting the suddenly exhausted woman's head on her shoulder as she lowered her voice to a soft whisper. "My expectations. Not even yours, Fern darling. You're far too hard on yourself - you think too mubsp; I see it in those eyes of yours when you get all ed up itle currents of your mind that threaten t you under. But I promise you, you don't o push yourself to the breaking point trying to measure up to some imaginary standard, some idea of what I expect from you."

  "But - I don't know what you expect," she protested weakly, despite the fort settling over her, ing her up so peacefully. "I still don't. I... keep having these unanswered questions..."

  "It's okay, darling." The dark mage just pulled her that much closer in. "You don't have to have all the answers. That's not even an expectation; that's simply how life itself is. None of us will ever know everything - as frustrating as that be for a mage at times," she added, half to herself, with a little giggle. "But it's fio take life a little slowly now and then - and I mean for you to do just that. There will be time enough to hurry things ter."

  Fern blinked. "What's... ter?"

  "It's the time that es after 'now', of course," Ravenurned ily.

  She sighed softly. "... I 't even be upset about that one."

  My life has been utterly turned upside dowhought as she closed her eyes. All of that effort, all of that work for a job that didn't even need me in the end. None of it mattered. A - now I have so much more. Not uhreat, not from some demon's bargain, but just... freely given to me. As a gift, from my partner - and her maids.

  "Why, whatever is there to be upset about, darling?"

  A thoughtful little smile curled her lips. "... Nothing at all."

  And gods help her, she meant it, too.

  leftoverfelix